Chicken Satay-Kebabs & Peanut Sauce

Inspired by a craving for peanut sauce and beloved ingredients in my pantry, I had a ton of fun experimenting with the marinade for this satay/kebab mashup today. If you are using wooden skewers, you should soak them in water for about 30 minutes before cooking to prevent the meat from sticking. Unfortunately I was super excited about this recipe and prepared the marinade before realizing that I (a) am out of skewers, and (b) no longer have a grill pan, so my photos won’t be exactly what I envisioned but the taste was all there!

A sneak peek into my brainstorming session (click to buy your own Smashbook from Amazon)

Cut the chicken into 1″ pieces. In a small bowl combine: olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, and all seasoning/spices (paprika, turmeric, cumin, salt, cayenne, pepper, coriander, celery salt, onion powder, ground ginger) and mix well. Combine chicken and spice mixture in a Ziploc bag, toss to coat, and marinate in refrigerator for at least one hour (overnight is fine too).

When ready to prepare, heat olive oil in a grill pan on medium-high heat (if you do not have a grill pan, a regular skillet will do). Slide several pieces of chicken onto each skewer and place in the pan. Grill until cooked through, 4-5 minutes per side. As stated above, I realized late in the game that I didn’t actually have skewers at home so I just sautéed all the chicken at once, cooking time is the same.

While the chicken is cooking, prepare the peanut sauce. In a small bowl, combine the peanut butter, rice vinegar, tamari, sriracha, and lime juice. Mix well. Add hot water 1 tbsp at a time to thin out the sauce, mixing well before adding more, until you reach desired consistency. I only ended up using 3 tbsp of hot water, but to each his own – there is no wrong answer here.